George, Lesbians, and the Gospel

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Jeff Block

Location: Somewhere over the Atlantic … but Further East

On my way to Israel, I have a lot to be thankful for. God has given me, in every sense, far more than I deserve or need or even more than I knew to ask for. God has been very good to me. Shame on me for how often I feel deprived of whatever trivial thing I believed I had to have to be happy.

Well, among many other far more significant things, God blessed me today with a bulkhead row seat (thank you, Father!), so I have plenty of leg room. He also placed skinny folks on either side of me, so I didn’t have any issues being in a middle seat. Both are British women about my age returning home to the UK (we’re going to Tel Aviv through London Heathrow) after a business trip to the US. One, named George, has evidently been traveling to the US every two weeks on business for the last year. Ouch!

George opened the door early to spiritual conversation (my favorite subject), and what started as a few minutes of chit-chat quickly turned into a three-hour discussion about who God is, who Jesus is, what the Bible says about all manner of things, what my opinions are on a number of hot topics of the day, human nature, sin, the gospel, and of course British music (okay maybe not all spiritual conversation). The big hot topic of the day for her was homosexuality. George’s focus for much of the conversation was on how hard it is for her lesbian friend to not act on her homosexual tenancies. She described at some length her friend’s religious upbringing and how being gay creates severe guilt in her life. According to George, she can’t be happy because when she does what feels “right” to her, she is miserable because she’s deprived of her sexual expression. But when she does what feels “good” to her, she feels this overwhelming guilt.

I tried to help her understand that all rebellion against God is sin. Homosexuality, from the perspective of God’s holiness, is not some special kind of sin. I explained that the personal difficulty of making right choices doesn’t absolve us of our responsibilities in the decision-making … or of God’s right and readiness to stand in judgment of our decisions. She made the point a dozen times that her friend “has a heart of gold”, but just struggles with this one thing. How can God judge her for that? I tried to help her understand that A) it’s never just one thing – for anyone – that nobody has a “heart of gold”, and B) that God’s love for her, for me, for her friend, is not tied to our actions. No amount of sin is great enough to separate us from God if we throw ourselves on the mercy of the cross. But if we don’t come to God in humility and repentance through Jesus, then no number of righteous acts will make us worthy to approach God and even the smallest sin will separate us from Him … being a practicing lesbian included. I tried to contextualize the message by referring to a broad spectrum (humanly speaking) of sins: greed, selfishness, homosexuality, murder, and a few others. All are sin. All separate us from God. All create in us the desperate need for Jesus.

I also used alcoholism, drug addiction, and to a lesser degree my former tenancies to grossly over-eat, as examples of habits that control us, trap us, and make it hard (sometimes very very very hard) to choose the right instead of the wrong. No matter how much I might feel like “I was born this way” or “I can’t help myself” or “I need a fix to be happy” or “it’s too hard to change” … none of that changes the reality that we’ll be held responsible for our decisions before God. And that’s true whether we’re talking about greed, selfishness, adultry, homosexuality, murder, or whatever other hard thing we face. Life is hard. But that’s not God’s fault, it’s ours. We – with a built-in sin nature – choose the wrong hundreds of times a day, surround ourselves with distractions and bad influences, and then demand that God should make our lives easier. God is not responsible for my bad choices, or George’s, or George’s friend’s. But the God who made me and gave me the right to choose (so I could choose Him, by the way), has every right to hold me accountable for my choices when I do choose.

So, this trip is off to a great start. I’m thrilled to death to have had the chance to share the gospel with George. And I’m pumped to be hanging over the Atlantic, Bible in hand, on my way to explore and see in person the land God gave to His people. But more than that, I’m pumped because God does not live in temples built by man, but in the temple of my heart. I hope there are more George’s before this trip is over.

Next stop (in 3 hours), Heathrow. But for now, maybe a few minutes sleep.

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All Aboard for the Middle East

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Jeff Block

Location: On the Tarmac at O’Hare

Of course, I didn’t prepare for this trip nearly as well as I could or should have. That’s the story of my life — too much activity in too little time. So, I imagined staying up late getting everything done that I wanted / needed to do, then sleeping on the plane. Of course, this didn’t consider that Faith might want to be the focus of my last night with the family before being gone for nearly two weeks. What was I thinking?

So, there was some packing last night, including trying to stuff John in the right suitcase to come with me. I love some of these pictures. But eventually, I just let the activity go, and hung out with the family and went to bed early with Faith.

This morning was, therefore, an early morning. I switched on the “out of office” messages, and went to town finishing prep for the trip. As is my habit, I read through all the literature (some of it for the same time – ugh!), I had bills to pay, things to pack, messes to clean up so that Faith wasn’t left with them, and so on. But of course, in the middle of all that was breakfast with my family and taking John to school. Faith and I took him together, then went shopping, and dropped supplies off at Sara’s – a colleague and friend who is helping make a BI Roundtable happen next week in my absence.

Because Faith and John were planning to head to my parents’ place for the weekend after dropping me off at the airport this afternoon, Faith had her own packing to do after we got home. It pretty much took every minute we had to get everything together, but we left right on time for the airport.

I have to say that by the time we got in the car, my excitement for the trip was beginning to turn to anxiety. What was I thinking to go on a trip like this without Faith? Why didn’t I spend more time in Scripture and prayer preparing for the trip? Am I going to feel totally alone going by myself? Of course, Faith was very encouraging, and the second I got in line at the terminal and started striking up conversations with total strangers, I was fine. Go figure.

Faith and John dropped me off at O’Hare about 2.5 hours in advance of my flight, and headed south to my parents. As I type this, I imagine they’re finishing up their Legion fish sandwiches and getting ready for bed. I chatted with total strangers, got a head start on Mediterranean food, breezed through security, bought some additional snacks (at double the price I would have paid for them if I was a better planner-ahead-er), and sat down at the gate amongst a whole host of total strangers many of whom also attend Harvest. But of course, this didn’t last long, because … well … I got my dad’s genes in this regard. I had a few brief conversations, called Faith and my folks, made a quick call for work, and then boarded the flight. Phone off, “Flight attendants, prepare doors for departure.”

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Israel: The Preamble to an Uncommon Adventure

Posted on November 6, 2009 by Jeff Block

Location: Somewhere over the Atlantic

I can’t believe, as I write this, that I’m on a plane cruising over the Atlantic, heading for Israel. A once in a lifetime experience. I don’t know how easy it will be, but I’m going to try to blog the experience – for you, my friends and family who want to follow my journey; for you, the person I’ve never met who wants to know about Jesus, about Israel and about this tour; and for me, who will want to look back over the years on God’s work through this trip. God has so richly blessed me — with the opportunity, the finances, and the supportive family to make this trip possible.

So, here’s the story…

A few days ago, my wife introduced me to a new song by Greg Long called “Uncommon”. Here are a few of the lines from the song to which I most closely connect…

What if the right thing was harder than the wrong thing, but I did it anyway?
Standing strong even when no one else was watching; what if I really lived that way?
Every heart has its defining moment. This is mine, and I’m not gonna miss it.

I want to finally take the road less traveled.
I want the world to see the life I’m living, and call it “uncommon”.

This song really captures a feeling of restlessness I’ve been feeling for years … the sense that I am missing a calling that God is trying to communicate to me. Faith and I have attended Harvest Bible Chapel for about two years now. Since we started sitting under the teaching of James MacDonald (Harvest’s senior pastor) and being in the company of the birds of similar feather at Harvest (real fanatics about the Bible and the God who wrote it), the smoldering embers of restlessness I’ve felt have grown in intensity. I think seeing people really living out God’s call in their lives with all their hearts is contagious. I also think I’m particularly wired to receive well the strong sense of expectation that comes through clearly in James’ preaching… God does not desire from us a passive listening to His Word, but rather a radical faith that trusts Him in our actions.

That life is uncommon … and every day I want it more. But I am so weak, so indecisive, so afraid of what might happen if I give up familiar, comfortable things, so addicted to stuff and easiness, so entitled. It’s taking a while for my heart to submit to whatever God might have … no matter what it is.

There are a lot of details to that reality that would get us off the rails. I’ll leave those for another conversation, and focus on Israel. (Yes, there’s a connection.)

Last year, for the first time, James took 120 or so listeners to his radio ministry, Walk in the Word, on a tour of Israel. Many of these folks were of course from our church. While in the holy land, they walked where Jesus walked, read Scripture in a whole new way, and came back changed. When James returned and enthusiastically shared this adventure with us at church, Faith and I were both excited about the possibility of going with them someday. But with a 5 year old child (relatively recently adopted), I didn’t even consider that such an opportunity would be any time soon. Not so for Faith.

As the year unfolded, our conversations about restlessness and adventure and crazy love for God increased in frequency and intensity. Beyond that, special circumstances made the funds available, and eventually Faith became convinced I should go back to Israel with James (he had clearly stated that he wanted this to be an annual event) to be in a special place to hear from God. When she originally pitched the idea, I dismissed it out of hand. Go without my family? Spend all that money in that way? No way.

But Faith’s heart was (and is) that God would speak to me in a unique way in the holy land, in the midst of 10 days of studying the Bible and the world Jesus knew when He walked the earth. Neither of us think that God is one place more than others. Neither of us thinks that you have to leave your world and go to someplace “spiritual” for God to speak to you. But being in a place of quiet, steeped in teaching and prayer and study, separated from our normal worlds, is powerful. And because God provided the resources to go – both the money and an incredibly supportive and encouraging wife and family – I go.

It might sound contradictory, but I don’t really expect God to say something amazing or intense or even new while I’m in the Middle East. More than anything, I’m just going to be with the One I love. I don’t really know what to expect.

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My Journey to Israel

Posted on November 1, 2009 by Jeff Block

In a few short days, I have the amazing privilege of traveling to Israel with Walk in the Word, the radio ministry of James MacDonald, Senior Pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel. You can read more about how I ended up able to enjoy the amazing blessing of going to the Middle East here, but I wanted to create an index into the adventure, so that you could get an at-a-glance view of my journey. I also wanted to include some Scripture, so that you could compare my adventure with the Biblical places and events to which the tour connects us.

Read more about my adventures on my official page: My Journey to Israel.

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I love my pastor

Posted on July 12, 2009 by Jeff Block

Pastor James is on sabbatical, and by the looks of it having a great time.  For those of you not on Twitter or who are but aren’t following James, here are some pictures…

Free slurpee day at 7-11 Harvest rides-to Lake Geneva w almos... on Twitpic Off to the cubs game w most of my wonderful family! on Twitpic

Really Gooooddd! on Twitpic Why does this feel so good!!! on Twitpic

God bless you in your rest, bro!

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He is my Fortress (part 2)

Posted on July 11, 2009 by Jeff Block

In a previous post, I decomposed part of Andi Rozier’s “He is my Fortress”.  Because that entry was getting seriously long, I thought I’d break into two pieces.  So, here’s the second half…

You’re before me

God challenges us. He does not tolerate sin, and He loves us far too much to leave us where we are.  If we’ve given God permission to sanctify us by committing our lives to Him, then He will not leave us where He finds us.  God changes and matures us.  He stands before us and leads us to new places that are far better for us than we would choose to go on our own.  Some of the best verses in the Bible are also some of the best known…  “He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside quiet waters.  He restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”  (Psalm 23:2-3)

God also goes before us in the sense that He has experience trials and suffering and temptation as a man,  God’s love for us is a love that knows from experience our limitations and frailty and smallness.  Hebrews says it very well… “We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:14-16)

And behind me.

If you give your life to God and submit to His will, then God’s got your back.  Andi’s song says it really well, “No power can stand against a people that God defends.”  This is a lyrical adaptation of the Scripture, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”  (Romans 8:31-32)  I think the best portrayal of this concept I’ve ever seen is in the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” when Lucy stands on the bridge to face the entire Talmerine army.  She’s a young girl with a small dagger.  She has no real power of any kind, except that she knows the King of Narnia, Aslan the great lion,  He has her back.  The Talmerines have nothing to fear from Lucy until Aslan stands behind her.  And even then, they are foolish men.  They do not understand the power with which they’re dealing,  The same is true of us, most of the time.  In our self-centered arrogance, we fail to accurately assess either the power of God or the power of the enemy.  And we certainly forget that we are frail, weak, and helpless (as Jeff Donaldson, my pastor, has recently and correctly pointed out).

R.C. Sproul writes, “Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they’ve contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.”

I’m okay with being really small as long as a really big God has my back.

You invite me in and delight me.

Psalm 23 again:  “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  (Psalm 23:5)

Also, consider a conversation Jesus once had with Thomas, one of His disciples…

“‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms…. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.’  Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’  Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'”

So, Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare a place for us to be, which will be a great delight to us and to which we know the way.  Sign me up.  I think many people ask alongside Thomas, though, “How do I get to God?”  Jesus says, “You know the way, because you know me.  I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”  I’m so in.

You prepare me

God’s motivation for not leaving us the way we are (sanctification) is to prepare us to be with Him in heaven.  That’s what the “going to prepare a room for me” thing is about too.  If we feel like God’s actions don’t make sense sometimes, perhaps it’s because they don’t … from an earthly, worldly perspective.  God cares far less about our being suited to live in this world, concerning Himself with the far more beneficial (for us), far more glorious, far more significant assignment to make us ideally suited for eternal life with Him.

And protect me

God protects us from all manner of things, some we’re aware of and some we aren’t,  Every time we get in a car, we have one near death experience after another.  All the accidents we didn’t have are a gift from God.  Every illness we don’t get.  Every famine, earthquake or tidal wave we don’t experience.  These are all ways in which God’s hand is a protecting hand.

But more than that, God sends angels to battle for us spirtually.  God literally fights for us.  I love this Scripture from the book of Joshua, when he was leading the armies of Israel to take Jericho…

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’  ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.’  Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him,  ‘What message does my Lord have for his servant?’  The commander of the LORD’s army replied, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.'”  (Joshua 5:13-15)

God is not tame or in any way under control, but He is good.  And He fights for those whose hearts are set on Him.

You correct my heart

As any good father would, God disciplines His children.  It’s easy for me to overlook rebellion and selfishness in my son John.  Much harder to discipline him.  But the discipline is much better for him, because it forms his life.  It’s much more loving to discipline.  It’s the selfish thing to overlook behaviour that hurts him and will hurt him even more in the long run.

The same is true of God.  From Proverbs…

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

From Hebrews…

“Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?  If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.  Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.  How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our [imperfect earthly] fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but [our perfect Heavenly Father] disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.  No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  (Hebrews 12:7-11)

As a legitimate child of God, I embrace God’s discipline as for my good from the heart of a loving Father.  I do not question the goodness of God in hardship, but rather admit and submit to the reality that God is wiser and far greater than I.  I trust Him, so therefore I don’t have to understand every circumstance of my life … even if it feel like I wouldn’t choose them for myself.  God is correcting my heart and perfecting me.

And perfect me

More preparation.  More sanctification.  More making me like Jesus.  I think I’m detecting a theme.

But let’s not let this concept fly by too quickly.  God takes the time and expends the effort to make us like Him.  Not only is it amazing that we’ll be perfect someday.  James says, “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:4)  Pretty amazing to imagine my “not lacking anything”.  I’m all about being “mature and complete”.  The really cool part is that God too is all about this work.  I find this to be the ultimate in condescension, but in the very best way.

The goal of God’s discipline, as Hebrews clearly states, is my righteousness, perfection, sanctification.  Bring it on!  I want to be more like Jesus, and I understand it will cost me to get there.

You befriend me

Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command.  I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.  This is my command: Love each other.”  (John 15:13-17)

I have nothing to add to the beauty and power of this truth, directly quoted from God’s Word.

You defend me

In my mind, the same as “you’re behind me”.  Again, the image of Lucy and Aslan and the Talmarines comes to mind.

You are my Strength

We have very little strength of our own.  To effect earthly things, perhaps we have a little power or strength, but not much.  But to effect the things that really matter – heavenly and spiritual things – we have nothing apart from God.  The Bible paints the picture of vines and branches.  In the same way that branches have to remain in (connected to) the vines and root system on which they depend for life, so we also have to remain in (connected to) God for life.  Not just that God sustains the molecules and biochemical functions in our body or gives us the breath of life, but also in the sense of accomplishment or progress.  In order to accomplish anything of value, we must remain in Christ.

Here’s how Jesus said it…

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:4-5)

So, if we want to accomplish anything of significance in this world or the next, we’ll allow God to be our strength.  We’ll remain in Him.

I will fear no more

By this time, Andi’s song is in crescendo, and so is – I think – the meaning of the words.  I also find application of God’s truth to be the climax of preaching, Bible study, and music.  This final phrase in the bridge carries with it the highest call to commitment and personal application of the whole song.  If you really believe the rest of the song, then this line is absolutely right:  there is nothing to fear but God Himself.

If we know Jesus…

  • We don’t have to fear enemies – even spiritual enemies, because God surrounds and protects us.
  • We don’t have to fear being in need, because God sustains us.
  • We don’t have to fear being unloved – whether for regrets of the past or mistakes in the future, because God draws us near and embraces us.
  • We don’t have to fear the future – what unexpected hardships or difficulties or challenges life may bring us, because God goes before us and is behind us.
  • We don’t have to fear the afterlife, because God invites us in.
  • We don’t have to fear the unknown of heaven, because God has prepared a place for us to delights us.
  • We don’t have to fear the massive chasm between us (and our sin) and God (and His holiness), because God prepares us for heaven, corrects our hearts, and perfects us.
  • We don’t have to fear being alone, unimportant, broken, useless or anything else that emphasizes insignificance in this life, because God has called us “friends”.  To be a friend of God for all eternity … I mean, seriously, is there some higher goal to which you’re aspiring that you’d like to share with the class?
  • We don’t have to fear lacking the strength to accomplish the dreams God has placed in our hearts, because God is our strength.

So, let’s sum up…  Stop being afraid!  Of the future.  Of insignificance.  Of weakness.  Of hardship.  Of opposition.  If God is for you, who can stand against you?  If only we believed God’s promises the way Moses did:  “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”  (Ex0dus 14:13)

I love it.  Let’s try to actually trust God like that, and treat Him as a strong fortress.  Let’s run in and find shelter, deliverance, and a whole new way of thinking in this life which will lead us to the next.

We don’t have to fear xxx, because God xxx us.

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